Does the Proportion of Marks for Wet Laboratories Affect the Overall Mark, Grade, and Failure Rates?

Students have higher marks in programs with a higher proportion of marks allocated to ongoing assessment (tutorials, assignments) than exams.  However, there has been little attention to how the allocation of marks to wet laboratories affects the academic performance of students in university courses.  The aim of this study was to analyse how the allocation of marks to examination and wet-laboratory-related assessment affected the performance of students in a biochemistry course.  The students were from four programs: pharmacy, biomedical science, medical laboratory science, and nutrition. The methods were (i) comparing the marks for the exam and laboratories, (ii) determining any association between these marks and academic outcomes by regression line analysis, and (iii) undertaking modelling to determine the effects of changing the allocation of marks on passing and failing rates. Overall, and for each cohort of students, the results were similar.  Students who completed the course had much lower marks in the exam than in the laboratories.  Regression line analysis of the marks in the exam versus laboratories showed (a) a poor line fit and (b) the correlation coefficient was moderate.  A high percentage of students passed the course (90%).  Modelling showed that increasing the marks for the exam decreased the number of students passing the course to as few as 51%.  Thus, the allocation of marks to wet laboratories can have a major effect on the percentage of students who pass courses.  The question of whether students who fails exams should pass courses/programs needs to be given further consideration

A Systematic Review of the Relationship Between Lecture Attendance and Academic Outcomes for Students Studying the Human Biosciences

Historically, lecture attendance was considered a predictor of better academic outcomes. However, it is not known whether this is true for the human biosciences or whether it still applies with the introduction of lecture recordings. The aims were to determine (i) any association between lecture attendance and academic outcomes for students studying the human biosciences, and (ii) whether this was altered by the availability of lecture recordings. There were 27 studies of the association between lecture attendance and academic outcomes in 32 courses, and for 24 courses (75%) there was a positive association. The positive association occurred in a similar percentage of undergraduate courses for allied health students and science students (72%) and courses for dental and medical students (82%), who are predominantly postgraduate students. Eleven studies reported the use of lecture recordings with a positive association between lecture attendance and academic outcomes being reported for 11 of the 16 courses (69%). From 16 studies/courses not reporting the availability of lecture recordings, 13 did show (82%) a positive association, and three did not show (18%) an association between lecture attendance and academic outcomes. In conclusion, as most studies show a positive relationship between lecture attendance and academic outcomes, it seems reasonable to continue to provide face-to-face lectures, and encourage students to attend. To date, there is no definitive evidence that the availability of lecture recordings alters the positive relationship between lecture attendance and academic outcomes

HOW PROPORTIONING MARKS AFFECTS THE PERFORMANCE OF ALLIED HEALTH STUDENTS IN A PHARMACOLOGY COURSE

Students have higher marks in programs with a higher, rather than lower, proportion of marks allocated to ongoing assessment. There has been little attention to how the allocation of marks affects the academic performance of students in courses. One study of students in a nursing program in a pharmacology course has shown that (i) marks were much higher for ongoing assessment than examinations, (ii) there were weak relationships between marks obtained in examination and ongoing assessment, and (iii) modelling increasing the marks allocated to examinations dramatically decreased the number of students who would have passed the course. The aim of this study was to determine whether these findings extended to other allied health (paramedicine, optometry) students in the same pharmacology course. Findings were similar for the students in the paramedicine and optometry programs. Although the general trends were similar between the students in the paramedicine/optometry programs and nursing students, there were quantitative differences. For the students in the paramedicine and optometry programs, the marks are higher, there are better correlations for the marks between exams and ongoing assessment, and increasing the marks allocated to exams has a lesser effect on the pass/fail rates than for the students in the nursing program

WHY DO STUDENTS ACCESS BIOSCIENCE LECTURE RECORDINGS? IS ACCESSING RECORDINGS ASSOCIATED WITH ACADEMIC OUTCOMES?

When face-to-face lectures are available, there have been limited studies of why students access lecture recordings, and even fewer studies of any association between accessing lecture recordings and academic outcomes. In a bioscience course, a survey was used (i) to determine why the students use lecture recordings and (ii) to test whether there was any association between accessing lecture recordings and academic outcomes. Consenting students undertook an online survey about accessing lecture recordings. Of 288 enrolled students, 131 consented to undertake the survey. For the 84 students who accessed lecture recordings, they were used to clarify, revise or catch up on content, or as an alternative to attending lectures. One-third of students provided additional feedback on accessing lecture recordings, and the most common themes were ‘flexibility’ and ‘useful’. Academic outcomes and accessing lecture recordings were higher for nursing than for non-nursing students. Pearson’s correlation coefficients were calculated to determine whether there was an association between accessing lecture recordings and academic outcomes. There were no associations between accessing lecture recordings and academic outcomes. In conclusion, although many students were accessing lecture recordings, accessing recordings alone does not seem to be a major determinant of academic outcomes

Does the proportion of marks for wet laboratories affect overall performance? Results from a biochemistry course

BACKGROUND Students have higher marks in programs/courses with higher, rather than lower, proportions of marks allocated to coursework.  Coursework can take many forms, and the aim of the present study was to determine whether this generalisation applied when the coursework was wet laboratories. METHODS AND RESULTS (i) The marks for the laboratories and exams were compared, (ii) any association between these marks was determined by regression line analysis, and (iii) modelling was undertaken to determine the effects of changing the allocation of marks on passing/failing rates. Students who completed the course had higher marks in the laboratories than the exams. Regression line analysis of the marks in the laboratories versus exam showed (a) a poor line fit and (b) the correlation coefficient was moderate.  A high percentage of students passed the course (90%).  Modelling showed that increasing the marks for the exam decreased the number of students passing the course to as few as 51%.  DISCUSSION The allocation of marks to wet laboratories/exams can have a major effect on the percentage of students who pass courses.  The question as to whether students who pass wet laboratories but fail exams should pass courses/programs needs to be given further consideration

Lyprinol—Is It a Useful Anti-Inflammatory Agent?

The New Zealand green lipped mussel preparation Lyprinol is available without a prescription from a supermarket, pharmacy or Web. The Food and Drug Administration have recently warned Lyprinol USA about their extravagant anti-inflammatory claims for Lyprinol appearing on the web. These claims are put to thorough review. Lyprinol does have anti-inflammatory mechanisms, and has anti-inflammatory effects in some animal models of inflammation. Lyprinol may have benefits in dogs with arthritis. There are design problems with the clinical trials of Lyprinol in humans as an anti-inflammatory agent in osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, making it difficult to give a definite answer to how effective Lyprinol is in these conditions, but any benefit is small. Lyprinol also has a small benefit in atopic allergy. As anti-inflammatory agents, there is little to choose between Lyprinol and fish oil. No adverse effects have been reported with Lyprinol. Thus, although it is difficult to conclude whether Lyprinol does much good, it can be concluded that Lyprinol probably does no major harm

The Relationships between Lecture Attendance or Accessing Lecture Recordings and Academic Outcomes: Results from a Pharmacology Course in a Biomedical Science Degree

The effect of lecture recordings on academic outcomes is not clear, and it is not known whether lecture recordings alter the association between attending lectures and academic outcomes. In a third-year pharmacology course, 39 of 42 students consented to the study. Sixty percent of the students attended the first lecture monitored, and then lecture attendance declined to an average of 41%/lecture. The final marks were significantly higher for students who attended ≥ 50% than those who attended < 50% of lectures. There was a weak positive association between lecture attendance and the final course mark in pharmacology. Thirteen of the 39 students did not access any lecture recordings, and an additional 10 students did not access any lecture recordings to ≥ 60% completion. For the 26 students who accessed the lecture recordings, there was a weak negative association between number of lectures accessed to ≥ 80% completion and final mark, but no correlation when the one student who failed the course was removed from the analysis. From this study, it does not seem that lecture recordings can be used as an effective replacement of face-to-face lectures. As lecture recordings were accessed more by the students who subsequently had poorer outcomes, it is possible that they would have had even poorer outcomes without this access